Wednesday, October 12, 2016

For a hearty big bold wine to accompany left over grilled steak and some hearty cheese to watch the Cubs play game four of the baseball NLDS (and their miraculous ninth inning comeback!), I pulled this Ben Schild Reserve Barossa Valley Shiraz.

Earlier I had run to the store to pick up some Smoked Gouda Cheese which was perfect for the occasion and set the stage for the grilled steak, both perfectly complemented by this wine. I write often in these pages about the synergy of effectively pairing food with wine for optimal enjoyment and tonight was such the case.

There was a reason I picked up a case of this wine upon release and its profile and suitability for this type of drinking was it. While we enjoy big bold concentrated forward fruit, many such Syrahs (aka Shiraz) also have tones of metallic graphite or camphor. While I find this is not my preference, the body weight and big fruit matched with meat, cheese or chocolate is one of my favorite wine tasting experiences.

Consistent with earlier tasting notes. The colour of the Reserve was deep dark Ruby Red and inky purple. Huge
aromas of black and blue fruits and violets give way to bright vibrant
concentrated tongue coating flavors bursting with blueberry, black
raspberry, ripe plum and chocolate, with tones of cedar, camphor, black pepper, spice, a
bit of graphite, turning to nicely integrated oak on a long lingering tannin finish.

I would rate this higher were it not for that somewhat obtuse layer of non-fruit graphite, cedar and camphor.
RM 92 points.

When writing about this wine, I feel compelled to digress to talk about the producer and some of his past marketing practices.

This
wine is dedicated to the producer patriarch Ben Schild who has
been
farming the Schild Estate Three Springs property in Rowland Flat Barossa
since 1952. Today the property is farmed by second and third generation
Schilds. Fruit for this wine is sourced from a single vineyard in the
Hills
overlooking Lyndoch where the elevated location and cooling winds helped
temper the effects of a warm year resulting in earlier ripening thereby
avoiding a late season heat wave that afflicted other growers in the
Southern Barossa.

The remarkable interesting
side note about Schild; this is not the same wine but it is the same producer and vintage
as the Schild Barossa Shiraz that after receiving high reviews, 94 points,
and placing in Wine Spectator’s Top 10 Wines of the Year in
2010, naturally subsequently quickly sold out. Schild then proceeded to
purchase, blend and
bottle additional wine from other producers, but still market such under
the 'same' label. Extraordinary, unethical, deceptive, conniving, creative, but
legal, none-the-less.